Oil rig fire update

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Commercial vessels extinguish a platform fire on board West Delta 32 approximately 20 miles offshore Grand Isle, La., in the Gulf of Mexico. First responders medevaced nine of the platform’s 22 personnel to nearby rigs. U.S. Coast Guard photo.

UPDATE: Coast Guard Captain Ed Cubanski: two people remain missing. Nine people were medivaced to four area hospitals. Eleven people were evacuated.

Rig stands in 56 feet of water.

Workers were using a torch to cut a 3-inch line that was 75 feet long. That line had 28 gallons of oil, which sparked the fire. There is an oil sheen a half a mile by 200 yards wide.

Black Elk Energy is setting up a command center in Houma.

Three commercial vessels are putting water on the fire, which they believe is structurally sound.